Google Street View Banned in Czech Republic

Google's Street View service has been shuttered in the Czech Republic for taking too high of a camera angle. Street View is also triggering privacy changes in Germany.
"

Google's controversial Street View service has been shuttered in the Czech
Republic and has sparked privacy
changes in Germany.
A feature of Google Maps, Street View provides photos of city streets taken
by cars strapped with cameras and computers. The photos are stored on Google's
servers.

Street View has faced privacy questions almost since its inception in 2007,
but concerns came to a head in May when the company admitted its cars accidentally collected more than 600
gigabytes of computer user data from sniffing WiFi networks.

This caused great consternation among the 33 regions where Street View is
currently available. U.S.
state attorneys general are investigating the search engine's actions.
Data protection authorities in the Czech
Republic, where more than 10
million people live, said Sept 22 they banned Google from collecting data for
its Street View service because its cameras are set too high.
"From our point of view it would be correct if the cameras were
lower," the office's Chairman Igor Nemec told the AFP and other reporters. Nemec received dozens of complaints from
citizens.
Nemec and his office also argued Google should distinguish between cities
and villages, where it does not make sense to collect detailed information for
tourists.
Google appealed the decision, telling eWEEK:
"We're disappointed with these comments as we believe Street View is legal in Czech Republic. We have in place robust procedures to protect privacy, such as face and number plate blurring and a removals tool. We'll continue to engage in dialogue with the DPA to answer any other questions they have."
Google is facing increased resistance to
Street View. Switzerland
sued Google over Street View last November, but the so-called
WiSpy incident has padded the consensus that the service poses serious privacy
threats.
Australia, Italy
and Spain are
all investigating Google for possible illegal data collection. Police stormed
Google's South Korean offices to see whether Google illegally collected private
information as it prepared to launch Street View there.
The search engine is also facing a lot of adversity over the service in Germany,
known for its stringent privacy laws.
Google said in August it would launch its Street View service in 20 German cities this year, with
some concessions to privacy authorities in that country.
Google offered to let home and real estate owners ask that their properties
be shielded from view. Germany
argued that its citizens needed more time, and Google extended its offer
to eight weeks total.
Now Germany Interior Minister Thomas de Maizi???re said the government will introduce new privacy code in December,
inviting Google and other Internet firms to submit suggestions for self-regulation
before then.